Toronto demographics…

The Toronto Region’s population base is one of the fastest growing in Canada; growth between 2001 and 2014 equalled 87% of the total population of Calgary in 2015. More than half of the global population (54%) now lives in cities, and by 2050 it is expected to grow to 66%. Toronto has more than twice the proportion of recent immigrants (8.4%) as Canada (3.5%). Toronto’s population continues to age. Seniors represent 15% of the city’s residents, and it has been projected that the GTA will have absorbed more than half the provincial increase in the over-75 population between 2011 and 2016.

Although immigration has been one of the city’s main sources of growth, its share as a source of population growth declined by almost a fifth from 2011 to 2013. However, 40% of Toronto’s youth who moved here within the last five years did so for better opportunities. As in other major North American cities, transit infrastructure in Toronto is being overwhelmed by the numbers of people who are increasingly choosing to live and work downtown. Meanwhile, the return of the long-form census is good news for city leaders, increasing their ability to plan.